The game of poker is more popular than ever, with people drawn to the competitive and strategic gameplay of this casino classic. However, one of the most important strategic elements pf the game is often overlooked: Bankroll Management.
Poker is a naturally volatile game, with luck and skill playing their part in the outcome of every hand. To counter the ups and downs of these inevitable variances, good bankroll management is crucial, as it allows players to continue playing through difficult moments.
Benefits of Good Bankroll Management
Good bankroll management offers several important benefits to players, including preventing heavy losses and maximising game enjoyment and reducing stress levels. The full benefits include:
- Minimises player’s financial risk
- Enables pressure free, objective decision-making
- Maximises game enjoyment
- Maximises game time
- Keeps players in profitable games
- Promotes sensible and responsible play
- Provides players with a useful life skill
Now you can see the benefits, here’s our guide to the best bankroll management tips around:
Only Bet What you Can Afford
As with all games, nobody wins all the time. So, if you want to play poker you need to understand that you could lose money. Therefore, any money you set aside for your bankroll must be money that you can afford to lose. This ensures your game time is stress free and helps maintain players game focus.
Use Separate Personal and Poker Accounts
For casual hobby players, using money from their bank account to play a few games of poker is perfectly normal. However, for more serious players, these accounts should be kept separate at all times.
This means players will be able to get a clearer picture of their wins and losses, and determine whether or not they are making any money.
Set Deposit Limits
One of the advantages of playing poker online, is the ability to use the helpful tools that operators provide. Deposit limits are a perfect example of this, with all online operators offering players the option of setting a deposit limit on their account when they sign up.
Players can use the tool to set a specific amount of money that they can deposit into their online betting account within a specific timeframe. Typically, this is a maximum daily, weekly or monthly deposit limit.
You will not be able to deposit any more money once this limit has been reached. This measure helps stop players chasing losses and promotes sound bankroll management.
Track Your Play
Tracking your money and results accurately is essential for serious players, but it can also provide useful insight for all skill levels. By logging where you played, the game type, and the number of hours spent at the table, an hourly, weekly, monthly, and overall win rate can easily be calculated.
Playing online poker allows players to utilise operator tools such as loss and gain trackers. These make it much easier to keep track of wins and losses and help improve bankroll management. Players who prefer to play at physical casinos can utilise some of the many apps available online.
You can’t Beat Variance
In poker, variance is the fluctuation in short-term results, compared to the expected outcome over the long run. Essentially, it is the difference between expected wins and the actual wins. Players can experience both negative and positive effects when it comes to variance. Sometimes winning more than expected, sometimes less.
They key to good bankroll management is not to let these swings effect your gameplay. You can’t break a losing streak or extend a winning streak by changing the way you play. Instead, take every game a hand at a time and play in a way that gives you the highest expected value from that hand.
Pick the Right Game for your Skills and Budget
It can be tempting to play high stakes games and potentially reap greater rewards. However, it is important to be realistic about your poker skills and those of the players you are looking to compete against.
Some games may appear easy initially but turn out to be competitive and difficult to win. Instead, look for soft games where you will need fewer buyins, and you can then afford to play higher stakes if the competition is poor.
Don’t be Afraid to Drop Down
Knowing when to drop down in stakes is a key skill when it comes to good bankroll management. Sometimes moving up can result in being beaten by better players, but if your bankroll is limited, it’s a good idea to drop back down.
This is a common process for many players and is an important step in gaining the experience and necessary skills to improve as a player. It will also allow you to build up your bankroll to better withstand any future losses.
